Fight Path: Kevin Syler followed brother from Bolivia to American Top Team

The story of Kevin Syler’s martial arts training, move to the U.S. and bunking with his brother all begins when an American businessman was held up on an international trip.

All those years ago, Syler’s father, who worked in the petroleum industry, was making his way to Brazil on business travel. But he got stuck in Bolivia for a few days, and he had to find a place to stay while he was there.

There was a woman working as a receptionist at the hotel he entered who caught his eye. Eventually, that connection led to a marriage.

Syler is hoping to add more to his own story soon. The Bolivian native and Florida resident is set to make his professional debut at the inaugural MTC Fight Promotions show on April 3 after an 11-0 amateur career, with seven of those fights in the U.S. He’ll be fighting on the same card with older brother Bentley, his training mate and roommate in Boca Raton, Fla.

It’s a major step for the 20-year-old bantamweight, who has been passionate about martial arts since seeing how much his older brothers loved practicing it or watching it. His dream was finishing high school in Bolivia and then moving to the U.S. to boost his career, which he did about two years ago.

He then continued his stretch of amateur wins while his brother was building his own professional resume (and, by all accounts, being the cleaner of the two in their living quarters). Now Syler hopes that his jump to the professional ranks can help him gain more notoriety.

“I’m pumped, and I can’t wait to go out there,” he said. “It’s a chance to be taken more seriously, as a prospect and as a professional. I just have to perform.”

Chance meeting

Syler was born and raised in Bolivia, after his father flew from the U.S. to the country to be with his mother. He already had two older brothers, including Bentley, who is about 10 years his senior.

They lived in one of Bolivia’s largest cities, Santa Cruz. It is a compact city that has continued to grow and maintain its close-knit environment.

“It has an American spirit,” Syler said. “The people are happy, and they’re friendly, and they want to do things to help other people.”

Syler was helped along in his youth by his older brothers. From the time he was just a few years old, he was able to watch older brother Bentley practicing martial arts. His other brother was also passionate about the sport, which helped to grow the same in him.

By the time he was about 12 years old, Syler’s family thought it was time for him to get involved in some training himself. He started at a boxing academy, learning the basics of striking and catching on quickly.

He moved on to kickboxing when he started noticing more MMA and kickboxing matches on television. But if he’s being honest, Syler will admit that he was a little hesitant to start an MMA fighting career, because he saw how much damage could be done.

“Fighting made me very nervous,” he said. “But then I grew and developed, and I started to beat guys who were older than me and who were probably better than me. I thought I could go somewhere with this.”

To another country, it turned out.

Making a move

Once Syler started beating better opponents, he started to dream bigger. He was still a Bolivian high school student, but his brother was already advancing his professional career, and Syler was anxious to get started with a more serious career of his own.

He made a decision that when he finished high school, he would move to the U.S. His brother relocated to Boca Raton about three years ago and trained at the American Top Team gym. Syler’s biggest challenge was staying focused while in Bolivia.

“To be honest, my last year of high school I got to a point where I wasn’t really improving very much,” he said. “I still had the passion and the excitement, but I don’t think there was much more I could do there. I needed a change.”

About two years ago Syler made his move, joining his brother in Florida and starting right away at ATT. All of the sudden, he was training with and around fighters he had watched on television and admired.

But he was also in a new country, away from his friends and most of his family, which was a stark adjustment. So he sunk himself into more training, sometimes trying to go three or four times per day.

Syler had done four amateur fights in Bolivia, and he got to work in the U.S. He packed in seven amateur fights in the two years since his move, finishing his amateur career 11-0. He was known as a powerful striker, and he worked from the beginning to improve his ground game.

Now he’s hoping to display those skills to a wider audience as a professional and continue his success.

“I try to always have something new,” he said. “Even if guys have watched me on tape, I won’t be doing the same thing when they see me. I try to change a little each time.”

Catching up

This past week, former national wrestling champion Darrion Caldwell told us about returning from an extreme shoulder injury and making the transition to MMA (“I was rollerblading. Of all things, right?”). He went on to score a submission victory just 50 seconds into his Bellator MMA debut, topping Lance Surma to improve to 4-0 as a pro.

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